Igesund backs goalline technology

Bafana / 6 July 2012, 10:49am

SAPA

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - JUNE 30, New Bafana coach Gordon Igesund during the South African Football Association media briefing at SAFA House on June 30, 2012 in Johannesburg, South Africa
Photo by Frennie Shivambu / Gallo Images

New Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund has come out in support of the recently approved usage of goalline technology.

The announcement by world soccer body Fifa was made on Thursday evening.

“I'm totally for it, I think it's a great idea,” Igesund said of the ruling passed by the International Football Association Board (Ifab).

The systems could be instituted as early as the 2013 Confederation Cup and then the next World Cup in 2014 – both to be staged in Brazil.

Whether it will affect the 2013 Afcon tournament remains to be seen.

In many spheres it was felt the intervention of replay technology was long overdue, with cricket and rugby employing video replays before it was even considered for football.

“I think (Fifa president) Sepp Blatter said that it has become a necessity,” Igesund said.

“Even with the fourth guy standing there, a mistake can be made.

“I'm for it, I'm for anything that's going to improve our game.”

There were concerns that the use of technology would slow down the game, but Igesund believed the importance of making a correct decision outweighed the pace-of-play issue.

“It's not going to stop, start, stop, start. Goal-line technology will be excellent,” he said.

“I don't how many times we've seen that the decision is so fine, whether it's a goal or not.

“You can actually lose a World Cup through a bad decision.”

Igesund made reference to the recent match between England and the Ukraine at Euro 2012, where a goal was controversially disallowed while replays suggested the ball had crossed the line.

“It's very tough for referees,” he said.

“You saw recently, I think the England-Ukraine game, when Ukraine scored a goal and replays actually showed it was over.

“We had a fourth official, the fifth official on the line needed a sword.

“These are tough decisions, and it will be interesting to see how they're going to do it.” – Sapa